Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Ship Maneuvers in Waves

Assuring a ship’s maneuverability under diverse conditions is a fundamental requirement for safe and economic ship operations. Considering the introduction of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships and the related decreasing installed power on ships, the necessity arose to more accurately predict the maneuverability of ships in severe seas, strong winds, and confined waters. To address these issues, extensive experimental and numerical investigations were performed within the European funded Project SHOPERA. Here, second order forces and moments for a containership and a tanker were measured in model tests and computed by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Generally, these measured and computed second order loads (drift forces and yaw moments, added resistance) compared favorably. Furthermore, the effects of waves on zig-zag and turning circle maneuvers were investigated.